Video Games Preservation

[kerdios]

@ultrayoba any idea what I can try doing if the M button returns
"MobyGames returned no results for "[search term]" ! "
no matter which search term I input? (And clicking the M button while leaving the text box blank doesn't do anything)

 

I've configured and entered the data for all my games manually so far.

Edited March 13, 2021 by kerdios (see edit history)

[ultrayoba]

9 hours ago, kerdios said:

@ultrayoba any idea what I can try doing if the M button returns
"MobyGames returned no results for "[search term]" ! "
no matter which search term I input? (And clicking the M button while leaving the text box blank doesn't do anything)

 

I've configured and entered the data for all my games manually so far.

 

Do you type it with or without quotation marks?

Edited March 13, 2021 by ultrayoba (see edit history)

[kerdios]

without

[ultrayoba]

55 minutes ago, kerdios said:

without

Well probably something blocking dbgl from acces to the internet. Hmm. Maybe firewall or something. Please, ask about this in dbgl thread in vogons

[ultrayoba]

I did not talk about OpenMW here before because it is one of the biggest and most known opensource game engine projects at this time, but their last video of project evolution is too awesome to not share.

[ultrayoba]

An interesting project https://dosboxece.yesterplay.net/

DOSBOX ECE - Enhanced Community Edition is DOSBox with already included patches and enhancements made by the community over the years right in the package. It has many things, including:

1. Emulation of a 3Dfx Voodoo card via internal (software or OpenGL) or external wrapper
2. Improved emulation of OPL3 (a FM sound synthesis chip from Yamaha)
3. Improved balance and authenticity in FM sound playback
4. Improved PC speaker sound emulation
5. Emulation of the Roland MT-32 Midi synthesizer
6. Integration of Fluidsynth (a software midi synthesizer with soundfont support)
7. Support for up to 10 joystick axes and 2 D-pads (allowing 2 complete Xbox360 compatible controllers to be used)
8. Mouse buttons can be mapped to keyboard keys or controller buttons
9. Support for up to 384 MB RAM, required for running Windows 9x in DOSBox ECE
10. 4MB video memory, reducing sprite flickering in games with the Build engine ("Duke Nukem 3D", "Blood", etc.)
11. Support for MSF timestamps in CUE files, MP3, FLAC, WAV and OPUS files are supported as cd audio replacement

Having an easy to configure glide wrapper included together with integrated Fluidsynth is very nice. For general MIDI with regular dosbox I usually using VirtualMIDISynth player, however  I heard that Fluidsynth is better and also since it integrated it'll not count as a "separate sound source" which for example discord streaming doesn't pick up. Same goes with MT-32. So for now it'll be my default Dosbox I'll use.

[ultrayoba]

Also, it might be interesting for the Might and Magic fans:

Web-based open source HD clone of 3DO and NWC's 2000 card game Arcomage (yes that card game from Might and Magic 7-8 games)

https://arcomage.github.io/ - you can now play it in your browser.

 

And I found out that there in development open-source re-implementation of the MM6-8 engine.

https://github.com/gp-alex/world-of-might-and-magic - currently it supports only MM7 only and you need to compile it yourself.

 

And for people who want to open Might and Magic 6-8 games right now, don't forget about GrayFace patches and tools - this is must-have bug fixes, improvements and controls enhancements for these games

https://grayface.github.io/mm/

For 7 and 8 games, which are supporting hardware acceleration, it even allows to play them with any modern resolution you want.

[BTGBullseye]

On 4/7/2021 at 4:23 AM, ultrayoba said:

An interesting project https://dosboxece.yesterplay.net/

DOSBOX ECE - Enhanced Community Edition is DOSBox with already included patches and enhancements made by the community over the years right in the package. It has many things, including:

1. Emulation of a 3Dfx Voodoo card via internal (software or OpenGL) or external wrapper
2. Improved emulation of OPL3 (a FM sound synthesis chip from Yamaha)
3. Improved balance and authenticity in FM sound playback
4. Improved PC speaker sound emulation
5. Emulation of the Roland MT-32 Midi synthesizer
6. Integration of Fluidsynth (a software midi synthesizer with soundfont support)
7. Support for up to 10 joystick axes and 2 D-pads (allowing 2 complete Xbox360 compatible controllers to be used)
8. Mouse buttons can be mapped to keyboard keys or controller buttons
9. Support for up to 384 MB RAM, required for running Windows 9x in DOSBox ECE
10. 4MB video memory, reducing sprite flickering in games with the Build engine ("Duke Nukem 3D", "Blood", etc.)
11. Support for MSF timestamps in CUE files, MP3, FLAC, WAV and OPUS files are supported as cd audio replacement

Having an easy to configure glide wrapper included together with integrated Fluidsynth is very nice. For general MIDI with regular dosbox I usually using VirtualMIDISynth player, however  I heard that Fluidsynth is better and also since it integrated it'll not count as a "separate sound source" which for example discord streaming doesn't pick up. Same goes with MT-32. So for now it'll be my default Dosbox I'll use.

Nice. I hadn't heard about this, and the MT-32 is amazing in Silpheed, so I'm going to start using this for my DOS emulation too.

[ultrayoba]

On 4/9/2021 at 10:49 AM, BTGBullseye said:

Nice. I hadn't heard about this, and the MT-32 is amazing in Silpheed, so I'm going to start using this for my DOS emulation too.

I not tried it yet myself, but you still might need MT-32 ROMs for this

Edited April 10, 2021 by ultrayoba (see edit history)

[BTGBullseye]

On 4/10/2021 at 1:18 PM, ultrayoba said:

I not tried it yet myself, but you still might need MT-32 ROMs for this

That would be a bit disappointing, but not too bad.

[ultrayoba]

23 minutes ago, BTGBullseye said:

That would be a bit disappointing, but not too bad.

There is no current emulator for Roland devices that don't need ROMs. Dosbox ECE just uses integrated MUNT, as listed on the website. But integrated fluidsynth and munt in-DOSBox is a very handy thing. All options for both of them are documented in the config file.

[ultrayoba]

FHeroes2 is now picked up again. This is an open-source engine re-implementation in development for the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 game.

Github

General page

They have social media groups contancts listed on general page if you want to follow the project.

[BTGBullseye]

11 hours ago, ultrayoba said:

FHeroes2 is now picked up again. This is an open-source engine re-implementation in development for the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 game.

Github

General page

They have social media groups contancts listed on general page if you want to follow the project.

Looks good so far, but I'm going to wait until it's "finished" to make any comments on it's implementation. I never got to play HoM&M2, so I'm looking forward to being able to.

[ultrayoba]

On 5/21/2021 at 12:35 AM, BTGBullseye said:

Looks good so far, but I'm going to wait until it's "finished" to make any comments on it's implementation. I never got to play HoM&M2, so I'm looking forward to being able to.

Heroes 2 are actually fully playable via DOSBox, you can just buy for example gog version and play it. But yea, I have high hopes for this project. It was fun to play with a touchscreen in very old versions before it originally was abandoned.

There was also another H2-related project, a "port" on Heroes 3 engine, Heroes 3 Succession Wars with a lot of new content, made in style and spirit of Heroes 2 art style and based strictly on the lore of Might and Magic universe, with new units, elements, new castles, and stuff. Even additional campaigns was planned, for example bridge between HoMM2 and MM6 about king Roland against Kreegans. Sadly, at least for now, this project feels dead.

 

[Ceskyusaie]

I had no problem downloading old games. The problem was only when opening the game, associated with running as an administrator. I solved it, but if you have a similar situation, in that case, right-click and run as administrator or through the menu "Compatibility." It may help to disable account control altogether. The easiest way to do this is to search for "Change account control settings" and drag the slider to the bottom. Right now, I'm trying not to waste my time playing video games. If I do, I spend my time doing something worthwhile. Mostly play games for cash.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Ceskyusaie (see edit history)

[DeirdreGill]

The links you've posted were really useful. Thank you!

[ultrayoba]

On 8/2/2021 at 3:10 PM, DeirdreGill said:

The links you've posted were really useful. Thank you!

Great, I happy that I being usefull somehow

 

Anyway, some other interestion opensource projects I noted

OpenDW - was surprised to see it exists, opensource implementation of Dragon Wars game, a totaly forgotten RPG, sort of "spiritual" sequel to Bard's Tale series from late 80s.

 

OpenGothic - there were a number of project of re-implementations of Gothic 1-2 engines, but they all were abandoned. Hope this one will not.

 

 

[kerdios]

https://ultimacodex.com/2022/03/ultima-6-has-been-decompiled/

[pyettdean]

I would like to add some information of my own. PCSX2 is an open-source Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) emulator for Windows. It's the only emulator capable of running commercial games. The emulator supports a fairly stable operation of most of the games released for the console: in the compatibility database on the developers' website, out of 2295 games, 1646 are marked as playable, the game can be fully passed as on a real console and another 398 as conditionally suitable, the game can be played, but it's impossible to pass it completely. The average frame rate of the games fluctuates and depends on the emulated game. And a question from me, I have minecraft server list. Did someone test these servers?

Edited April 11, 2022 by pyettdean (see edit history)

[Kaiosama TLJ]

I think Batocera could be a good addition to this thread. It's a standalone linux operating system that basically turns your PC into a retro-gaming console. It's not that hard to configurate the basics, but I could indicate a channel with tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@BatoceraNation